Display rack



May 23, 1944. E. P. JARvls DISPLAY RACK Filed Jan. 19, 1942 ATTORNEY Patented May 23, 1944 Unirse STATES ra TENT OFFICE 4; Claims.

This invention relates to a display rack for use, principally, in the display of greeting cards and, more particularly, has reference to that character of cabinet-like showcase providing a multiple-tier display face of which each tier is arranged and adapted Yto carry an assortment of the various cards olered for sale ink such a manner as to permit the purchasing public to readily select therefrom.

It is the common practice, in display racks` of the described character, to build shelves, drawers or the like to the rear of the display face and which open to the rear of thel cabinet as receptacles for a reserve supply of the various cards, it being a duty of a sales clerk following the depletion of any particular item from the display tiers to replenish the same from such reserve stock. As its principal object, the present invention aims to provide a display rack including a drawer for reserve stock capable of being serviced from the rear of the cabinet, which normally occupies a position concealed from the View, of the purchasing public, and which is slidable forwardly therefrom into a position exposed to the frontal or displayface permitting a direct replenishingl of the display'tiers without, as heretofore, rst noting the depleted item or items, then passing to the rear of the cabinet to extract the same from the reserve supply, andl again returning to the front of the cabinet to insert the cards in their related display tiers.

It is a further and a particular object of the inventionto devise a display rack of the described character in which the frontal face of the slidingl drawer provides one or more ofthe cardereceiving tiers and as such constitutes a continuation of the display face of thefcabinet.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide a display rack having a protective cover for the sliding drawer, and which cover is supported by the cabinet proper as distinguished from the drawer to have the same permanently occupy a position to the rear of the cabinet in order that the contents of the drawer will be automatically exposed upon a forward sliding travel thereof and thereby permit the sales clerk to replace depleted items most expeditiously.

Having the foregoing and still further objects and advantages in view and which will each appear in the course of the following detailed description and claims, the invention consists in the novel construction and in the adaptation and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of my improved display rack, showing in full and dotted lines the open and closed positions of the sliding drawer, and also indicating by full and dotted lines the closed and open positions of the protective cover for the drawer.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section thereof taken on line 2 2 of Fig. 1 with a portion of the rack broken away, and showing the protective `cover fragmentarily; and

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the rack taken to a reduced scale.

Having reference to said drawing the cabinet of the rack is comprised of'side'walls 5 6 tied together at the bottom by a floor 1, at the rear by a partial back wall 3.and at the front by a cross rail 9 and a series of longitudinally extending angle bars shouldering against oneV another to present upwardly-opening horizontal display pockets or compartments I0, all of such parts being integral.

Desirably lying in stepped tiers, such assembly of xed display pockets terminates short of the cross rail 9, land in the intervening opening I introduce an open-top sliding drawer, as II, arrangedvto open forwardly and having a false front presentingone or more display pockets I2 corresponding to and` constituting a continuation of the pockets I0. To the rear ofthe false front is the drawer proper having therein a number of partitioning strips dividing the drawer into a severalty of reserve compartments I3, there being preferably one reserve compartment for each of the several display pockets I0` and I2, andas a protective cover for the open top of the drawer I employ avhinged door I4 swinging upwardly about its inner end as a pivot and at its outer end nding a rest upon the upper edge of the back wall 8. The pivot pin for said door is indicated by I5 and is given a iixed mounting in the side walls of the cabinet.

The drawer is indicated as having a slide bearing at each side of the cabinet upon footing rails I6 and I'l but might as obviously be roller mounted or, if desired, given the still more eiicient cradle type progressive suspension slide. A stop I8 limits the opening travel of the drawer by engagement against the cross rail 9.

The invention and the manner of its usage is believed to be apparent from the foregoing description, the hinged door I4 giving access to the reserve compartments for stocking the closed drawer from the rear of the cabinet. A sales clerk, upon noting a depletion of any of the items displayed in the slots I and l2, is permitted to readily replace the same from the face side of the cabinet by the .act of opening the drawer and selecting the proper item from the reserve stock, following which the drawer is again closed.

The provision upon the sliding drawer of a false front formed as a functional continuation of the xed display tiers is of import in that it permits a maximum number of items to be displayed and, from an ornamental standpoint, advances the appearance of the rack by presenting a relatively unbroken series of the tiers extending from top to bottom of the frontal face of the rack.

The intention in the foregoing description and in the illustration to which the same pertains is to present the invention ,in possibly its simplest form, with no effort having been made to introduce various refinements which are to be found in the several racks which I now have in use. It is expected that the following claims will be read with only such limitations as are expressly brought into the same to distinguish my invention from prior knowledge in the art.

What I claim is:

1. In a display rack: the combination of a cabinet open to its rear, having in its bottom portion a drawer-closet which opens to the front and is accessible through said rear opening, and provided with a rigid frontal face extending upwardly from the forward opening of the closet and which is formed to present a plurality of compartments for display purposes; an open top drawer for the closet arranged for forward movement from its closet-housed into an open position exposing the contents of the drawer to the front of the cabinet, said drawer having a frontal face formed to present compartments for display purposes which, in the housed position of the drawer, constitute a relatively unbroken continuation of the rigid display compartments of the cabinet; and a hinged door for said open top of the drawer supported by the cabinet.

2. In a display rack: the combination of a cabinet having, in its bottom portion, a drawercloset which opens to the front and is provided with a frontal face extending upwardly from the forward opening of the closet and which said frontal face is formed with a series of xed, terraced, upwardly-opening pockets, each of said xed pockets having a relatively high rear wall which, excepting in the instance of the uppermost pocket, extends upwardly beyond the iioor of the pocket thereabove and forms a front wall for the latter; and a drawer for said drawercloset provided with a frontal face formed with an upwardly-opening pocket, said drawer pocket having a relatively high rear wall which, in the closed position of the drawer, extends upwardly 2,349,351 M i A beyond the oor of the lowermost xed pocket to operate as a front wall for the latter and whereby the pocket of the drawer constitutes and has the appearance of being a continuation of the series of fixed pockets.

3. In a display rack:` the combination of a. cabinet having, in its bottom portion, a drawercloset which opens to the front and is provided with a frontal face extending upwardly from the forward opening of the closet and which said frontal face is formed with a series of fixed, terraced, upwardly-opening pockets, each of said xed pockets with the exception of the uppermost pocket being formed such that its rear wall extends above the floor of the pocket thereabove and operates as a front wall for the latter, and the lowermost of said fixed pockets having a front wall of a height less than the height of the front walls described Iby said upwardly projecting rear walls; and a drawer for said drawer-closet provided with a frontal face formed with an upwardly-opening pocket, said drawer pocket presenting a rear wall which, in the closed position of the drawer, extends upwardly above the front wall of the lowermost fixed pocket to operate as a continuation thereof bringing the height of the front wall of said latter pocket into approximate correspondence with the height of the front walls of the other xed pockets and giving to the pocket of the drawer the appearance, when the drawer is closed, of being a continuation of the series of fixed pockets.

4. In a display rack: the combination of a cabinet having, in its bottom portion, a drawercloset which opens to the front and is provided with a rigid frontal display face extending upwardly from the forward opening of the closet and which said frontal face is formed with a series of fixed, terraced, upwardly-opening pockets, each of which pockets provides a front and a rear wall; and a drawer for said drawer-closet provided with a frontal display face formed with an upwardlyopening pocket having, like the fixed pockets, a front and a rear wall and of which the latter, in the closed position of the drawer, extends upwardly beyond the lower limit of said rigid frontal display face and is so formed and disposed as to find lapping abutment against the front wall of the latters lowermost pocket, the design construction of the rigid frontal display face and of the frontal display face of the drawer being such that, upon a closing of the drawer, the said upwardly extending rear wall of the drawer pocket blends into the architecture of the rigid frontal display face `and gives to the pocket of the drawer the appearance of being a continuation of the series of iixed' pockets.

EDWARD P. JARVIS. 

